The history of pharmaceutical education in
Georgia begins in 1919, when the Division of Pharmacy was established at the
Medical Faculty of Tbilisi State University. In 1922 it was rearranged into
Chemical-Pharmaceutical Division and was attached to Pedagogical Faculty,
instead of the Medical one. In 1925, the Faculty of Pharmacy and Chemistry was
created at the base of Chemical-Pharmaceutical Division and in 1930, this
faculty was comprised into the structure of Tbilisi State Medical Institute,
separated at that time from Tbilisi State University. In 1937, the faculty was
reestablished as Tbilisi Pharmaceutical Institute, which existed till the
September of 1948. After that time, it still joined to Tbilisi State Medical
Institute and continues to exist as the Faculty of Pharmacy until now, within
the structure of present Tbilisi State Medical University.
Founders of Scientific Pharmacy in Georgia
The Rector of the Institute
of Pharmacy was the Academician of USSR Georgian Academy of Science, Iovel
Kutateladze. Development of the field was greatly contributed by professors:
Nikoloz Maskhulia, Pavle Chumburidze, Aristrakh Mshvidobadze, Valerian
Shotadze, Eduard Abol, Vladimir Asatiani, Petre Gelbakhiani, Lina Eristavi,
Levan Chkhatarashvili.
Iovel Kutateladze, Pavle Chumburidze, Edward Aboll, Nikoloz Maskhulia, Valerian Shotadze,, Valodia Khukhunia and others
A group of scientific society of pharmacologists Mtskheta, 1968
The Deans of the
Faculty of Pharmacy were: Professor Pavle Chumburidze (1938-44), Professor
Aristrakh Mshvidobadze (1946-73), Docent Levan Chkhatarashvili (1973-77),
Professor Roman Makharadze (1977-90 and 1991-96), Docent Ipolite Moniava (1990-91),
Professor Aliosha Bakuridze (1996-2005), Professor Nikoloz Gongadze
(2005-2006), Assistant-Professor Nino Nemsitsveridze (2006-2007) and Professor
Dali Berashvili (2007- to present).
After reorganizing
educational process in 1996, the medical qualification of those acquiring
higher pharmaceutical education was changed and instead of the “chemist” they
were called a “pharmaceutist”. The new concept on pharmaceutist education was
worked out, together with updated educational program, which implied 5-year
study duration. Structural changes were applied to profiled cathedras of
Faculty of Pharmacy as well: The Cathedra of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and the
Course of “Instrumental Methods of Analysis with Toxicological Chemistry” were
united to form a new cathedra named as the “Cathedra of Pharmaceutical and
Toxicological Chemistry”, while the Cathedra of Pharmaceutical Organization and
Economy was renamed into the Cathedra of Social and Clinical Pharmacy. All
cathedras were renamed into departments in 2006.
According to the
Georgian Law “On Higher Education”, the pharmaceutical study is three-step,
including the Bachelor (4 years ), Master (2 years) and Doctor (3 years)
degrees.
Educational process at
TSMU Faculty of Pharmacy is being implemented at the University and profiled
department bases. The latter involve profiled departments of Pharmaceutical and
Toxicological Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Technology, Pharmacognostics and
Botany, Social and Clinical Pharmacy, which are situated in Study building #IV,
Vazha-Pshavela avenue # 33, Tbilisi, Georgia
TSMU Faculty of Pharmacy is actively involved in mutual collaborations with universities abroad: University of Liege (Belgium), University of Quebec in Chicoutimi (Canada), Mediterranean University of Marseille and University of Toulouse (France), University of Ljubljana (Slovenia), Medical University of Lublin and University of Warsaw (Poland). Dozens of the staff, doctorates and students of the faculty have taken training and summer schools in above mentioned universities, aside from joint scientific projects and theses works implemented, which were later reflected in published works and bilateral scientific conferences.